These Canadian Ice Dancers Had to Tone Down Their Sexy Routine for the Olympics

Canada's top ice dancing duo Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir are out of retirement and back at this year's Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, to try to medal one last time after a devastating loss in 2014. But there was one modification they had to make to their ultra-sexy routine before they stepped on Olympic ice.

The pair first performed their passionate Olympic routine, a medley from Moulin Rouge!, at the Canadian championships on January 14. Although they received a perfect score, won first place, and ultimately qualified for the 2018 games in South Korea, there’s one move in that routine you won’t see them perform at the more conservative Olympic games: a super-sexy lift. Like, very sexy.

According to the couple, they knew exactly what they were doing with the choreography—and injecting edginess was exactly what they were going for to stand out in the competition.

“We knew that taking the ice at an Olympic Games again meant that we needed to have a different style,” Virtue told The Toronto Star last week. “We wanted to make a bit of a different statement. If that was bringing an edge or sexuality or darkness, or a contemporary feel to it, then mission accomplished, I guess."

In the video from the Canadian championships below, you’ll see Virtue dip her legs underneath her body and twist in front of Moir’s torso, landing with her legs straddled on Moir’s shoulders. The sexy sequence happens around the 2:25 mark.

In order to compete for gold in South Korea, Virtue and Moir chose to tone down the lift into something more visually pleasing and likely a little more appropriate for all audiences.

“What it came down to actually was that when we slowed it down and looked on the video, it wasn’t aesthetically that beautiful of a position,” Moir explained to the Star ahead of the competition. “So we wanted to change it, make it a little bit better.”

But don’t worry fans, they’re apparently compensating the lack of sexy lift with an edited, more dramatic ending to their routine. We can’t wait to see!